It was released for the Playstation 2 on December 25, 2003, and for Xbox on October 7, 2004. Promotional art was handled by SNK artists Nona, Falcoon and (now former SNK artist) Shinkiro. Nona did the main illustrations for the characters.

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SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos primarily utilizes the command system of The King of Fighters series, incorporating light/strong kicks, punches, cancels, and charging attacks. Unlike its predecessor, Capcom vs. SNK 2, SVC Chaos features no air guards and has no "groove system", instead focusing on quicker gameplay. Characters are provided with a 3 bar system for executing special attacks on varying levels with filling options attributed to strikes and damage. Additionally, the sprites from the various series received new models and some special effects were changed in command lists.

To face a midboss in this game, the player can meet varying requirements to face them:

To battle Zero or Mars People, the player must use an Exceed in every match prior to the mid boss fight.

To battle Geese or Dimitri, the player's Exceed must fail to connect to the opponent on the match prior to the midboss fight.

To battle Dan or Goenitz, the player must use an Exceed twice in any number of rounds prior to the midboss fight.

To face the secret bosses in this game, the player has to meet one of two varying requirements to face them. However, as a difficulty curve, the player has only one chance to defeat them. Failing to meet either requirement is the same result if the player loses to them, a text-only ending that states the player character was never seen again.

A way to tell if the player meets the requirement to face the secret bosses is during the aftermath of the battle with Shin Akuma/Serious Mr. Karate, if the player character's winquote comes up, then the player has failed to meet a requirement. If an extra cinematic plays, then the player has succeeded in meeting the requirement to face a secret boss.

To battle Athena, the player must not lose a round and avoid winning by chip damage. The requirement to battle Red Arremer is same as with Athena, the only difference being that the player must win a round by chip damage.

If the player defeats the secret bosses, God will appear before the character, stating that he never imagined them defeated. But then he states that they are not supposed to be in the secret bosses' location anymore, and sends the player character back to their home series, and their ending plays.

If the secret bosses defeat the player character, an extra scene will play, and they will use a Heaven Spell (Athena), or a Makai Spell (Red Arremer) and transform the character into something strange unique to that character, and then the bad ending plays from there.

In Japan and Europe, the game was ported for both the PlayStation 2 and the Xbox. In North America, however, it was released for the Xbox exclusively, due to the Sony Computer Entertainment game approval policy.[citation needed]

Shin Akuma, Serious Mr. Karate, and the two secret bosses can perform an unlimited amount of super combos provided that they have at least one bar of meter available.

The backgrounds that are in the game seem to suggest that the setting takes place in a post-apocalyptic Earth, with most stages appearing to be abandoned, decrepit, and mostly devoid of life. The background material to explain the events of this game seem to point to it, but is not made clear through any character dialogue. Oddly, some of the endings (such as Chun-Li's and Kim's) show normal, undamaged cities full of people.